this is a non-partisan organization and we need to say things the way they have to be set. it is unacceptable the level republicans are reaching on immigration and other issues of basic rights. every single piece of anti- immigrant up legislation in the nation comes from the republicans. every single attack on collective bargaining comes from republicans. all attacks on education comes with -- from republicans. in the case of democrats, this was not a priority, and they were not willing to spend political capital. when we face such a unique economic crisis, we need smart economic policies. immigration reform, the right

and left have already proved the benefits of having reform. the center of economic progress released a report that having the benefits of the drink act passed -- the dream act passed -- >> martin luther king said the way that we get a voting platform that would transform america is for latinos and blacks and poor white people to get together. i would add women to that. we have a number of women this year that hopefully they will be voting for what they want. we cannot get all of what we want unless we help someone else get what they want, and that leads to our working together, starting to strategize for 2016,

when we made want somebody else to be president forced to change those people in the senate. usually, we'd wait until the last minute then come together. we need to get away from that. the dream that act does not hurt me. i want my brothers and sisters to have the dream act, but also to understand, i want as a woman, as an african-american. i want an african-american woman on the supreme court. we will then get to where we want to go. >> you mentioned -- latin decisions and a poll that came up with, which showed that he knows our elderly -- overwhelmingly fund of the

president and not fond of the other party. it is not that one party is so great over the other. it really is that we see the downside of one particular party, which has been very consistent in its message of hate in terms of immigration, the latino community as a whole. it is not like we have a great choice here. how can we vote for this party who we know is going to take us down to a place where we do not want to be at? that choice is becoming clear as we go along, especially when the other candidate keeps saying things like 47% of the population think of themselves as victims. that means we are all victims here. >> i got a good one that i want you to answer, and i am not picking on faye. she said when we come back and

look at 2016, who do we vote for? part of the problem when we talk about coalition building is we are only thinking in terms of every four years. what i mean by that is one of the reasons many of these voter i.d. laws were passed is they did not understand the implications on the state level. so many people were outraged with the trayvon martin killing, but the district attorney decided not to press charges was elected. most of the issues that affect people every day our local issues, but i believe that national organizations put so much emphasis on the top of the ticket they are ignoring vital state, gubernatorial, state,

county commissioner, all those down-ballot races, and when you are talking about the military- industrial complex, those are district attorney's charging people, judge-citizens charging people, so speak to how you are educating your constituents to understand down-ballot races matter, and even more so, then the top of the ticket? >> it is also different states. if you complained about extremism in the republican party or the support by minorities of the democratic party, you self-gerrymander the country, counties, and districts. what is transpiring is you can make sure you -- but you are giving up on south carolina. that will not change blew any

time soon. >> talking about mississippi, alabama, tennessee, arkansas, a louisiana, and those are considered red states. >> you have to make sure both parties are fighting and we are just not looking to the prism of race. the conservative base is responding to the two-party because those are the folks that have been driving the vote, money, the message, said they will be responsive to the people that are loudest and will stay away from the quietest people. same thing for the democratic party, and that reason you are seeing a war on women in 2012 is that those are groups in the democratic faith drives the messages. we have to be more savvy in how we played this game so we do not just have one party fighting for us and perceived that the

other party is fighting against us. >> i think it is a danger to minority communities if one party does not even at the court the vote. it is a bigger danger for the parties if they look at the changing demographics and realize they are having the hispanic and african-american community's vote overwhelmingly for the other party. this is a threat to the republicans' future, and we were looking at statistics that said texas could go to a blue or purple state. when that happens, the republican party is in serious trouble. [indiscernbile] >> i was born and raised in texas, and it is interesting that dynamics there because i do think texas is probably -- right now in texas there's not a

single democrat elected statewide. i think texas is probably two cycles away because you have to get those folks at voting age, but you are seeing inroads in dallas county, harris county, some of the county races. >> you mentioned perspective of change and what our world is in that. our communities have been very reactive and voted for an african-american president and set our job is done. i think other communities, and let's be very open about it, the gay and lesbian communities, were proactive about their agenda, they put it on the table, their voice was heard, and this administration stepped up to the plate, pro or against it. their agenda is being against it. >> that was actually a black

value. they studied how african- americans were able to drive legislations in the civil-rights movement and say as a blueprint, let's take the amount of resources we have and you put that with voting and you have a different result. >> we me to go back to that same model and make sure we implement that in this next term. >> if anybody could jump in and answer this, and that is, let's say you go through november, let's say president, democrats, 50% holds up. 90% of black folks hold up. are you going to see african- americans and hispanics make it clear that they have to have an inside and outside game, and that is you have folks on the inside who say we are working with you, but then the extra forces on the outside who are also pushing as well to get what

you want, and otherwise be risks folks saying let's don't have an extra row game, all of you are left with is an internal dane, and we can ignore it. that is a danger when it comes to getting what you want. >> i think every time you put all your eggs in one basket there's a danger they will get broken. i disagree that is what happened. the last election was a historic election that energized many folks and for very legitimate reasons. because of the need for change, but i also think there has been pressure at the community level for elected officials to do better, to be more responsive. the question is whether we have enough power in our communities to get them to respond as quickly as they need to. where it comes to latinos, it is clear our editorial influence is

growing. we need to close the gap, and for us, a key piece of that is voter registration. i think there is an amount of pressure. the other thing it is important is that when i heard 2016, the reality is what do we do starting on november 7 because it does not matter who wins if they are not held accountable. right? we found plenty of evidence in that, and is easy, because if you are going to being held accountable, then you are going to the squeaky wheel. there is a fair amount of work happening, but the challenge for us is our communities are struggling day in and day out to make a living and keep a roof over their heads and keep employees. it is up to us to figure out how to create more opportunities for people to engage, and it upsets me when i hear the context of our electorate about being apathetic.

our communities are not apathetic. they are resilient. people are working tirelessly every day, concentrating on surviving. we need to figure out how to make participation and create those challenges that make it more accessible, but it is not about apathy. it is about creating that opportunity to see yourself as part of that change, and is gradual. >> you will see the two groups doing two different things. the latino community will be more inclined to push the president. if romney is elected, he will not be able to sneeze. if obama gets reelected, the latinos will be more inclined to push him harder than the black community. the latino community is more diverse. they are more inclined to push marco rubio that people from the dominican republic and when it comes to issues of immigration. they will be more inclined to

stand on their platforms. the other aspect is i think african-americans will be less likely to push back on a history maker, and one of the pockets of opportunity for black people is we need to push the history maker to be historic a little bit more for us of the the next four years. we are intended to do that because you go from slavery to the first black president. it has only been 150 years. think about the journey to go from slavery to the leader of the free world within 150 years. we are only 50 years away from jim crow. i think we probably need to push this president if he gets elected. >> we have pushed from the inside more from the outside. in another four years i think we would tend to push from the outside. >> in another four years or the next four years?

>> the next four years. and you are right, we have concentrated -- >> get that black supreme court member. >> you talk about we are thinking more in terms of national elections since. it is a matter of resources. the national congress of black women has been organizing and we only had maybe 20 or fewer chapters three years ago. we have 100 now. where are more equipped to work locally now, and we have many black women that we are pushing in local and congressional elections now. >> i want to bring up what we saw in 2006, and i moderated an event, a group of latino music publishers in las vegas. i pushed them and challenged them on this notion in terms of

did latinos take advantage of the millions of folks who were marching across the country? made the argument and it took about an hour for folks to go we will concede your point, that the lesson out of that is you being issues,s but if you cannot have it sophisticated political infrastructure to take the books on the ground and translate that into public policy, all you end up with our massive marches. from a latino-hispanic standpoint, give a perspective of what has happened in the last six years to understand that it cannot just be a million folks turned out unless you have a plan the day after the march? >> participation is a central element. marching is a central element

of civil preoccupation. this is been a unique position in the latino community to where it has been much more involved. it makes me happy that we are working with organizations like ncsl. at that time when we are under attack, it is clear latinos -- and we will be much more engaged, and those marches were a central element of being more involved, mature a committee, but we need to be honest on immigration. we are a critical nation on the issue of immigration. it is time to stop blaming immigrants for that problem of

immigration. 12 million undocumented workers in the most powerful nation in the world is not a mistake, it is public policy. we need to take responsibility as a nation. on the issue of immigration, we need to change the discourse. >> i want to remind when you talk about immigration, you are dealing with people of african descent, haiti, bermuda, caribbean countries, west india, africa, and part of the problem for folks who have been leading this immigration discussion, they have not articulated that enough to say the not just make this a latino thing, it goes beyond. we cannot forget irish.

i want to jump in here and i have a question for you, and i know you will have something to say about it. >> we devolved as a community and we had millions of people in chicago and los angeles and new york, all over the country. we did not have the infrastructure to be able to consolidate to what we were doing to be effective. you spoke a moment ago about an insider-outsider game. we have devolved into that now. we have to have people on the inside, the outside, pushing the insiders and getting information from the insiders sold weekend be more effective at all times. it is like anything else. we evolve. the leadership was there. we did not know how to put it altogether.

connoisseurs' about forging alliances with other people and other were dozens, and why? they work. people of color are 33% of the american population. 33%. that is a lot of soap we are buying. what we need to do is commercialize it into something that is good for us all politically. >> we may not be able to elect someone now, but we can prevent someone from being elected, and that seems like what we are doing now. we can prevent somebody from being elected to was worse. we need a real education on the dream act. it is tough. it will not be easy for people to become citizens. they have to go through a lot to do that, and get it will benefit us, because that is where we can draw from from the military.

many immigrants are wanting to go into the military. we can help reach that education level that the president wanted to be number 1 by 2020. there are so many ways in which the drink at can help us, and the young people get all the freedom you hear about. we have to move toward me know the truth, we have to seek it, and that is the name of my new book, "the truth." >> i want to ask a question because there is a debate tomorrow night, and before i get to the issues, i want to deal with you and the moderators. we have had lots of discussion and the fact that the diversity among the moderator's. the bait -- the debate commission, one of the cochairs set did not blame us, blame the networks because they are not providing opportunities for us to be able to pick from a

diverse group of people. when you look at broadcast news and cable news today, it is a virtual whitewash, and the reality is you are not -- as the nation is changing, i said before and i will say it again -- television is the last bastion because when you begin to change how television looks, you accept the changing demographics. and so what are you doing, what are you saying when it comes to who you are seeing as show hosts, folks who are producing various shows, because if they do not look like the changing of america, you will continue to get the product you are seeing, and i have been one of the voices since i have been on cnn saying we can find more than one or two hispanic and black commentators, because of you have 12 folks doing that, we can do better than may be having one hispanic and one african-

american. >> one of the things i love that you do is not get boxed in from a political standpoint or you being a journalist, not be afraid to talk about being black when you are on there. >> i am unapologetically black. >> that is what you need to do when you are advocating for folks, because it is not just talking about issues from and issues standpoint. you have to show a holistic aspect of who you are on the air. if it touches the african- american community where the audience may not see, i do not be afraid to say what needs to be said. as you well know, it is on live television. once it comes out of your mouth, there's nothing you can do about it. it is an opportunity to get the conversation going, so when we have those opportunities, we need to to get an edge of that and speak appropriately to get,

speak eloquently to it, so people are not ashamed to put it in the back anymore. , seriously, 20 minutes ago i said i need somebody to explain to me why i have not seen nearly all of you on television. folks might see you on cnn espanole, but i need to see you on a regular cnn. speak to white organization ally -- speak to why they do not want to promote us. >> it is amazing because you are not only looking at cnn esp anol, so you will have a lot

more opportunity for bilingual commentators, but this is among friends, nobody is watching, right? >> go ahead. >> i had a conversation from a friend who was meeting with cable news folks who said who do you have, who is or hispanic under a cable news broadcasts? they said, are training and getting mr. rodriguez up there. i have not gotten a call from you in months. they will throw out whenever names they have to the organizations, like alex and others, to say we are talking to people. deeds speak louder than words, and at some point it will come to that conversation. >> put some of that blame or responsibility of the parties

themselves. sometimes i think --the democratic party can say be bought an african-american to host or moderate. i do not think that is outside the scope of reality. sometimes our own parties do not want to work the boat, to do not want to press -- >> i do not think the party will go there, because the party may see that as a primary concern. that typically has been the province of media-related organizations, external groups come as opposed to -- because then it gets to you already and picked somebody, and now we might be taking sides. there might be pushed back. >> usually have a saying it is our responsibility to bring others along. i know some people are tentatively in their positions, but we need to see those who are

african-americans, latino, who are bringing people like us on to be on their shows, to present ourselves, and what we could be seen in that way. i have often had white women, heads of white women's groups, k bankers say they should call somebody else. -- blank anchors say they should call somebody else. >> the reality is in television the anchors are not making the call. the reality is the poker is decided in many cases who gets on. -- the booker is deciding in many cases who gets on. >> the national latino media

sign a memorandum of understanding with abc, nbc, cbs, and fox, and it was about we need to know who is working in front of the camera and who was working in back of camera in the entertainment sphere. we have since then gone out did that news, parts of their operations, and has there been progress? yes, incremental. we do not have a choice but to push harder because of what came out of here. we anecdotally already knew -- this is a report from latin decisions, and what he did, he interviewed 900 people on what they thought about latinos and on another part of it, 3000 people on what they thought about latinos. they were all white people. what they thought, coincided with what news they were looking at. we put entertainment in there,

television news, radio, and we also put journalism. if they were young and new latinos, they tended to have a good attitude about latinos. if they were older and watching fox news, they did not think very highly of us. what were those things they did not think highly of that were not paid drug, intelligent, that we're taking jobs away from other americans. 30% of them thought that 50% or more of latinos where here without documentation. we are 55 million in this country strong in terms of latinos in this country. 12 million supposedly are here without documentation. that sure as hell is not 50% of the population that is here without documentation. these are the kinds of things

that studies like this bring out, that can be duplicated by any government agency, and they have not work. the word is black and white, here is. this is proof cannot afford to continue to have black -- lack of participation by latinos and people of color, because what we do, it costs us, in terms of policy, jobs, in terms of everett activity under the world. >> he is absolutely right. this is very critical, the lack of diversity on tv, especially in the news. 'it is responsible for lack the province on our issues. where not getting a fair shake in the media at all. i think one of the things you asked about the insider- outsider games, we are starting to get smart on this as well. i am part of an advisory board, and we have gotten to the point where we go over all diversity

numbers every quarter, we look at the shows they're putting on their, so we work hard to do this the hard way, which his company by company, show by show, to try to get more diversity. we believe this is credible, because you talked about the marches, i was in phoenix when we had 100,000 latinos marching downtown. nearby there was a stadium that could hold 20,000 people. nobody talked about the 100,000 latinos margin on the city hall in phoenix. that is a problem because of the way that news business covers our communities right now. >> get your questions ready. we will be coming to you with your questions. any long statements, i will hit you with a microphone. >> my feeling is that, unfortunately, if you want to

watch the news and get real coverage of the news, you have to go to cnn in espanol, bbc, univision. why? they will actually give you the story behind the sound bite. they do not just stay like most of the major networks on a one- minute sound bite or shows you, eventhere has been this somewhere. you will never hear about it again. he did not know why this event took place. who were the actors? no, you just get a quick snapshot of the neatest quest latest disaster in the world. that is not responsible news casting. not only be, latinos, blacks,

minorities, everyone in this country should demand more of our news media. there is so much more that needs to be known and told by the news media. >> i think this is a holistic issue which is the exclusion of minorities. what is happening in the tv is one of the examples, but if you analyze it of every single day that peace in the nation, the coalition of national organizations, looking at the rear visitation of nash -- of latinos, look at how many senators and legislators we have in the nation, the issue that was the issue of

latinos recognized at the kennedy center. datave not seen any i about the issues of exclusion. we need to highlight positive contributions of every community. this is totally unacceptable. if we do not demand and are not aggressive enough in strategies, you will keep getting the leftovers. before i finish, something of what to put on the table, and i am worried about their is something on the ground happening in the african- american and latino community. the possibility of certain conflicts, of various communities against each other. we need to talk to each other

and have clear strategies to make sure we move forward. >> have been looking at that for the last 20 years, in terms of houston, dallas, superintendent, police chief, a fire chief, african-american as well. it is now rising in the state where the numbers are equalizing, but i can tell you i have seen this in houston and dallas dating back to the early 1990's. i will go to questions, but before i do that, i want you to put your crystal ball prognosticator hat on. gives me one issue that you will hope will be brought up tomorrow night in the debate that likely will not be brought up. i will come to you and you have a question here -- here.

all right, we will start right here. the issue that you think you want to be brought up, but likely will not come up, and after the debate we will see who got it right. >> job creation. there will be a lot of talk about it, but the specifics is what voters want to hear about. >> i want you to be specific with your issue, not a general one. no bailouts. >> i think tomorrow it would be great to die in to -- to dive into the protection of our environments. we will not dive into it to the level we should, and romney will not talk about how he is such a green governor in massachusetts, which definitely is a foot lot. >> tomorrow with the domestic policy debate. >> i was going to international affairs, but it is domestic

policy. they are not going to discuss how we can get african- americans more jobs. they will talk in general about jobs, since we need jobs more, we should have more attention on its. >> in a sad remembrance of the 400th murder in chicago over the last couple days, we will not talk about the tie between youth unemployment numbers and how it has impacted the dropout rates and the crimes we're seeing in these urban environments. >> i would like to see an honest conversation about collective bargaining. >> i like that one. , we talk about that new small business economy, but african- americans, our economy is not a mom and pop, it is a mom or pop. we need to make sure it is addressing the mom and or pops our communities.

, hate speech and its relationship to hate crimes will not be discussed. it will not be discussed even though we are losing a lot of people right and left, because of the fact in fringes to some on the first amendment. even the president the other day went around the whole thing in terms of the muslim film. president saying something like that. they will not address this. >> kennedy said what can you do free country. you will not hear those words tomorrow night, and the whole idea, realize we're going to have to contribute to solve our economic crisis, to solve our deficits, but you will not either candidate ask their base to make sacrifices. >> basically, we may hear rder, ing about the board per

u.s.-mexico border, but i am certain we will not hear that is more ed than a billion dollars a day in a legitimate trade and how that helps our economy. >> i think you are going to hear a lot about the middle class. you will not hear anything substantive when it comes to folks who are poor in the lower class, and anybody who uses those words i will be absolutely stunned. hopefully jim lehrer will ask that. >> i covered the trade on martin -- trayvon martin rally in d.c.. i have not heard anybody talk about it. they seem to be the crux of the issue to buy the election. when are you doing to fight about this? >> hal are you dealing with groups like alec that folkestone

not know about, who are driving legislation because it is not just alec? >> i dropped doing business with companies, and i am encouraging our members to do to the sink with businesses with which they deal that is not doing -- that is being unfair to suppress the vote or people who are not with us on the stand your ground case. we're looking at all the companies in our organization, and i felt i had to do it first, and i informed my members of what i have dropped or stopped doing business with this company. >> a lot of the same thing. we have pressured a lot of supporters of organizations, to stop funding, and we have had a lot of success. a lot of major families have pulled support from that group.

they have also i think avoided taking a more social -- these more aggressive issues on on race relations and immigration. are trying to shy away from that and move backwards to the business focus that they said they had from the beginning. >> hi, my question is to mr. mcalester. you mentioned how people should make sure that -- people of color should make sure they rally around certain representatives or people who are running for office and make sure that they deal with their issues and put their money behind them, but how do you propose that certain communities do that when they are traditionally economically disadvantaged in general? i find it -- >> who are you talking about?

>> i am talking about people of color, the latino, african- american, asian communities -- where is the money going to come from for them to encourage these politicians to actually pay attention to them? >> especially with the six report. >> eric two sites to that. we have spending power that we can make it short coast toward the races we need to make it goes to tap responsive politicians. there have been an up movements where we have seen an underdog candidates end up winning elections without the money, without the name, and we had a guy right there that was going up against the former first lady sitting in the white house right now.

the people demonized that democratic party, but he ended up with $5,000 in his work just because of the tea party movement. there are enough's in areas that have come up -- there have been enough examples where politicians have been able to rise because of the power of the people getting behind them. we have to look at our history. over the last five decades, we come from a legacy of people who did not have money, power, and were not that far away from slavery. they ended up changing not just law of the country, but changing the whole world about how the world look at civil rights. when we talk about money and getting power when it comes to politics, we need to speak from where our powecomes from, from within and from got, and when we take that perspective, we will

get the results. the cannot look so much on the money aspect of it. you need people more than you need money when it comes to true politics. >> most of the affordable care act will not come into line until 2014. you will see efforts to not fund most of those initiatives. how are you positioning your organizations and constituents to deal with that, because just signed a law was one thing, and now it is implementing tell all. >> have done a lot of advocacy work both in terms of helping shape the legislation, because let's face it, there was a lot of debate about it and a lot of difference of opinion. we have been active in the legislative process of shaping the language of that legislation to the right to the torre processes. that is sometimes we forget, if you get a law passed, some folks

in the rule will figure out how they can write its implementation, but it will not end up being that great. we will continue to engage both in the supreme court debate that just happened, but now going forward to how this is written into law and that different places. what we're seeing, not just the issue of health care. somebody talked about state rights. we are seeing this at a very crazy dynamic talking about the role of the federal government and invoking state rights when that is convenient. we will be challenged to fight a lot of battles in 50 different places, many that we had before fought at the federal level for standard implementation, and that will happen with health care, and we need to be watched fall. >> we hear small businesses hate the affordable care act.

>> they are misunderstanding. a lot of is education. small-business owners are saying they are already being attacked, competition is fierce, my margins are shrinking, and now you are forcing me to take on an additional burden. we're trying to have a conversation of you have to look past or small business and look at your community as well as her family as well as your children, but understand the long-term ramifications this bill has, and from that perspective, it is a conversation that we have had over the past and people can buy into what once they understand it. a lot of it has been on the bad marketing that this administration has done in explaining it. >> some people walk around with 500 police and are freaking out. >> i have not heard much of it is about religious and moral issues, because we did these

polls and you have the likely voters, but that involves intent. how much deflation is in the border policy, because at the dnc there was a dispute about god in the platform, about jerusalem being the capital, and then the president's vocal support of gay marriage. how many of those folks who go to church every sunday who will be like, my goodness, what do i do now? i need to choose between my president and got. they're people thinking this. what are your thoughts? >> i would like to jump in because the reality beano, the parties tend to throw religion when is an upwardly seemed to move certain voters. my frustration is when you have

an honest conversation with the hispanic community about religion, you can see them going down the line between the republican and democratic parties. the examples are i am a democrat and a latino because i believe in taking care of my fellow man and woman. the democratic party looks at this issues -- how do we support those families who need? you have this catholic christian latinos who say it makes sense, i need to be a democrat, because we do that kind of social outreach. on the republican side, is a black and white issue about abortion. the reality for latinos is that your walking down the middle of the road with them when it comes to religion, because of that talk of war. my mother in law knows what i do in terms of the democratic message and being out there supporting the president, but she is a strong woman of faith and she cannot be dissuade or moved when it comes to the issue of around abortion.

she has told me i will not be able to vote, and do not call me on a election day. i understand her talk of war because she has volunteered for the church and done a lot for the community and seen that funding come to those programs that she has been a part of. >> parties will have to understand that that is real, so whether the issue of abortion, same-sex marriage, contraception, and also it is not so cut and dried. you have catholic bishops who are extremely vocal on the issue of the help mandate to with contraception, but you had the same strong catholic condemnation of congressman paul ryan's budget because it cuts to the poor. that goes back to it comes down to what is the issue versus a party. a lot of political folks do not understand that, that you might have folks who will be against

you on this issue because it does not aligned with their fate, but will support you on something else because it does. >> you see the infighting on the catholic church. the nuns on the bus -- that empowered latinos who grew up with nuns around them. >> political laziness -- some of these issues on religious a lever, one inwilllever the process. if people can pull one or two levers, we will lose out on the bigger picture. we need to make sure we to evaluate what each party is doing and ask what does the bigger picture look like. that's not be swayed by one issue or another so we forfeit 23 months of lawmaking and

reengage when the campaign hits the trail again. >> religion is as active in this campaign as it was four years ago, the big reason for that is mitt romney is reluctant to talk about his fate, and the president has not wanted to force that conversation. up to now, there has been a remarkable little discussion about religion by both these candidates. >> it cracks me up when people say religious stuff does not matter. after 9/11, every church, i always synagogues -- get a kick out of folks who say that stuff don't matter, but all of a sudden you lose your job, you are praying. at thea professor university of the district of columbia community college, and i am happy to say several of my

students are here because i offered it as an extra credit. >> you knew that was a follow-up question. >> it was interesting it came at the beginning of our discussion, when we started with the voter suppression efforts that have gone on, and it was positive as an opportunity. i would like to continue with that thought, because there is an opportunity, and you have discussed the ways that institutionally you have been fighting these efforts. how do we translate said that this becomes an ongoing and continuing effort to get individuals and communities as well to empower themselves, both in terms of knowledge and activism, so that voters oppression efforts in the featured to not affect them because -- and i respectfully understand that people are working very hard -- but that democracy is also very hard and requires a lot of work if one wants to be able to protect their rights as of voters and as

citizens. >> one of the things about what happened with president obama in 2008 is the fact that he was able to take politics to twitter, to facebook. you had this explosion where it was not just rush limbaugh on talk radio. there was a radio show in chicago doing his thing, and that was followed up. it made politics cool, some the that you could follow, that was more digestible. journalism all of a sudden became this form of what they used to call yellow journalism, where they gave you a little bit of fax and a whole lot of opinion. we have too much for ourselves with this process to let us know you can take this all in, but you're getting at lot of opinion. as you share opinions and facts on twitter, on facebook, to social media, in the conversations of the day, take it all in and let it be part of your daily conversation.

but the issues they are talking about on see an end or other networks be something you relate to your everyday life. when we did a college tour with the politics to 65 in florida up before and during the convention, we heard a students talk about student loans and the policies of the florida legislature and that general assembly and how they were voting on that and how governor scott had something to do with that. when they're able to take politics and make it apply to 21-year-olds, and let them talk about that in their language, not in the language of the legislation, and everyday terms, that it be that type of conversation began. once we mature to the level, we can do with all the opinionated is we get, but also start dealing with facts, and that is when we get people in power with politics. >> it has something to do with what roland said earlier, in

terms of our responsibilities nationally, to get our local associations, affiliate's more involved, getting people locally involved, because they know there is more than just the four-year election of a president, to teach them what they can or cannot get as a result of their county commissioners as a result of the city council and the state legislators and others. >> question? >> i wish i had my students would come here to get extra credit. >> what is wrong with you? >> another issue that has not come up is not education, and one of the ways to address some of these issues is to grow new and informed voters to education. our education policies now are focusing on standardized testing, that language arts and maps are the only things that matter, so history, social studies, science -- >> do not forget band and

drummer. >> another thing we need to do and how to grow young people who are informed citizens, what can our organizations do more about that? >> and cate school boards. school boards often times dictate the curriculum. if you're teaching african- american history starting with 1865 on through, and that is all you get about black folks and latinos history starts with 2006 -- [laughter] that this house some of these issues are being framed. when you're not voting and looking at the bigger picture and say i will not worry about the school board race because as long as obama wins, that is all that counts, you have kids who

did not understand history and why the need to be involved going for parry >> democrats control every state my position in texas in the past. the way republicans took over the state of texas, they first ran for the state board of education. democrats totally overlooked it, but they recognized it was pure politics. they said look at the election and they saw how many votes it took the window seats in the previous election. they ran their folks, got their own votes, took over the boards of education, and because of the number of textbooks texas baez, along with california, they can drive education for the rest of the nation. that is what we saw all the support this year when they changed the text books to take

out stuff dealing was later, and other issues come u. they understood how you take public policy and affect the minds of the next generation, and put this together, and they caught progressive liberals off guard, but actually it was the beginning of the republican takeover and texas of state boards of education. a lot of people think, can get low-hanging fruit and can have an impact on race. the last point, it use study most local school board races, virtually nobody votes in those races. there are people in major cities who are winning school board races with 300, 400 votes. and so understand get five people, you cannot have a majority, and for the business you can now determine

contracts, bond programs. >> i hate to be the spokesperson for the dream act, but it has a provision were many more latinos will be a part of what they have to do, get a higher education, so it will improve our education. recently the president put more money into funds for african- american children to educate them. we have to continue to ask our senators and insist our representatives did the same because we have not had a lot of attention paid to education except in the state of the union, the president paid a lot of attention to it, but we have to get our local people also, not only in terms of the money, but what will be taught in the school, because of lot of this ignorance we see is for people who did not give it very much schooling themselves or got the wrong kind of schooling. >> i got to ask this as well, because it goes to education,

and we have seen this battle, folks who are ticked off at this new teacher film coming out this weekend. we saw what happened in chicago in terms of the teachers' strike. it cracked me up when we said let's pay teachers more money. also, it is interesting, you have groups like students first how can you be aligning with corporate reform, and the argument is the problem with the conversation is is being treated as a us versus them argument as opposed to there is no one good way to educate a child in america, two, we have people who are absolutely afraid to change, as there has been a status quo. how do we move this

conversation toward a results- oriented conversation as opposed to protect my turf conversation? we talk about education, because that will be the battleground on the local level, because of this whole deal, corporate performed verse >> in our conversation, if you do this, you must be from this party. if you do that, you must before this ideology. i look at the latino community. you can have different thoughts and your same head. >> tell the people at cnn that. >> just because you want teachers to be more accountable and better prepared in the classroom does not mean you are anti-union. if he believed there should be

more investment to make sure we have good buildings with good textbooks does not mean you are anti-principal and anti-school. there has to be more focus on the children sitting at the desks. because you talk about parents needing to have more responsibility and involvement it does not mean you are republican or something. i do not know. for that -- when one talks about a parent's responsibility many say there are systemic issues, they are not mutually exclusive. it will take a clearing of those things. we have to challenge this notion that you have to be one track mind or one track ideology to be right or wrong about in issue, especially education. it will require creativity and testing things.

it is not just about the future of that child. it is about all of our future is right here. what we have is not quite working. we need more investment, but it is not necessarily all about the money. it will take the parents, teachers, schools and students. >> they lay out two-thirds of the next generation, largely minority children, will not be able to do the jobs that we will have at that particular time. what do you do? i have someone say you have to be republican because you support vouchers. i support public schools, private schools, online schools, charter schools, every form. when we have this conversation -- even on air force one with the president in 2009 -- i took exception to them ending the

voucher program in d.c. the president said if ostia's could get vouchers, i would support it. i said you support magnet schools. all students can not attend one. i went to a magnet school. you have to apply to get in. that is seen as a republican idea. a charter school is a republican idea. supporting the teachers' union is a democratic idea. i challenge the wife of a democratic -- democrat running for congress who was angry about me joining students first. i said tell me what would you tell a parent whose child attends a school with a 95% failure rate. explain to me what you would tell them why you want to keep things as they are versus throwing things out. >> you are right. we support the school reform movement we support the common

core standards that are critical. when you talk about civics education, it is harder to do common core standards for those disciplines. another area that is missing is financial education. two of the important things in our daily lives we do not covered too well in school. those are things we have to build in more. we have students that are after school to participate in lulac counsels. they have been engaged in civic light - life. they learn about the importance of the boat and participating in our civic discourse. that is key. we have to make public schools experiencesaugment

that help them become part of our systems. >> i support the 12-hour school day. we have to fit all this stuff in. you are not in school. what are you worried? >> i have grandchildren. i do not one gun in school for 12 hours. >> ok, fine. 14. >> i am the director of the african american civil war museum. our exhibit is called civil war to civil rights. i was a city council member in washington d.c. when i look at president obama's appointment to the supreme court, both for women. one was hispanic. i said this is a brilliant move for a man that knees that coalition to be reelected. what is your response to that? now he can go back to them and

say he needs the support. if he gets there -- if he gets reelected, he will appoint more supreme court nominees. >> there is no guarantee he will get two. the ft side is that you have a segment of the building blocks that -- >> the flip side is you have a segment of the voting bloc that gives up their boats. >> black women voted more. >> there is something to be said about ignoring that vote when thurgood marshall was replaced by someone that the black community has been hands-off with since he got in on the -- 20 years ago. >> he does not get invited to the picnic.

>> going after constituencies that you need. women, working white women, upper-class white women, and latinos, in particular latin as. what happens to the african- americans who were on fire about him winning? the last three black senators that you have have have come from illinois. they have come from chicago. where was a payback for that? >> i hope i do not get in trouble for this. this kind of conversation sometimes gives me heartburn, especially the conversation that comes up about the redistricting process. it is laced with this motion -- a notion that only latinos can represent latinos.

or this notion that because someone was nominated and appointed to the court that now the latina vote is in the bag. that is insulting to our communities. we want to see more of a latino- elected officials because we want to see latino's represented in an american society commiserates with the population numbers. they will have different opinions and mine. that is fine. that should be fine. this notion that lay cissus conversation hurts -- that laces this conversation hurts our community. in 2010 it was good news for latinos that we saw latinos run successfully in non-majority

latino districts. they demonstrated that they have successful candidates. latino voters were able to show they were discerning and just because there was a latino name on the ballot they did not flocked to that name. we continue to push for our society that reflects what our country really looks like. it challenges these notions. on the media, that is what sometimes happens. if you have a commentator for an african-american or latino, and now you are the issue expert. >> the justice was a great nomination. she serves as an romano -- ron model. this is the most qualified supreme court nominee in 60

years. she kicks off ass in her professions the response wasn't that she was not that smart. some law clerks says she was temperamental. where was the conversation about her record? the conversation was about her being nominated and being the first latina. what about how impeccable her record was as a judge in new york? >> you have heard the same thing about the president. newscasters talk about a summer night he will have to watch out for being arrogant. when is the last time you have heard anyone mention the word arrogant with anyone who is in a high-level position? i differ slightly because i do think we need to have images of all of us. i have been pushing for the

next one being an african- american woman. there were no at american women on the nation's capital. we work hard to get some journal truth to the capital. shirley chisholm has a portrait there. that is important when young black children walk through there and see people who look like them. >> we have to think about -- what does the present bank? -- what did the president think? he got a big% of the african- american vote. he also got a sizable percentage of the non-minority vote. he said he could do something for the communities that got me here or i can try to do things that will help everybody. that is what he did.

he worked to solve the economy. he worked hard on the health care bill that a third of all latino children are short -- in short. -- and all -- a lot more latino families are in short. he shied away from those issues, which is why we did not dim -- get immigration reform done. >> final comment from hector. >> my most humbling moment in life was when i was munching on the selma to montgomery march. i spoke in the same stairways in montgomery capital of dr. king spoke almost 50 years ago. the symbolism of both communities marching arm to arm children singing together.

people coming together to fight for the same issue for the right to votes and also for the workers' rights and education is very important. we need to keep focus on that flavor of unity. together we can fight for 30% of the pie in such a 15%. -- and said a 15%. >> i do not want 30% of the pie. i want at least 50. %. folks, give it up for our panel. i want to thank all of you as well as everyone who watched this on the live shrink.

tell your friends and family members to double check their voter registration deadline in the state. the first group of states comes up october 6. the second deadline is october 9. have them check those dates. if they are not registered by then, they are not able to vote come november. thank you very much. have a good night. >> before you leave, i wanted to add that there is a website, canivote.org. if you go to that website you will be able to put in your state, name, address and see if you are registered to vote in your state. if not, it will tell you what to do. we want to thank you for attending tonight's town hall meeting. a special thanks to our moderator and our panelists. thanks to our evens sponsors.

thanks to our host dr. franklin smith. tonight's discussion highlighted issues that affect us all. and we hope you will return to your communities and empower others to get engaged in politics. remember that our boat can count and we can create the change we want to see. thank you for your participation. we hope you will inspire others to register to vote and go to the polls november 6. if you are not registered, there is voter registration as you enter the table. you can also get information. we say thank you. we think the panelist and everyone again. thank you.

>> last week on most what senator virginia last week arnold discussed product and ship -- discussed partisanship for his new think tank. it was at the university of southern california. the former governor of california attributed the lack of cooperation between the parties to elected officials main focus on getting reelected. he called for them to take more risks in their decision making. here is a portion of his remarks. >> what you are talking about here is that people are afraid to cross the party line and go in the direction or hang out together because voters will be upset and they may not get reelected. if your main objective is to get

reelected, you are screwed right there. you cannot make a move anymore. when we talk about courage, we talk about senator mccain who was in vietnam. he was going through unbelievable torture. he risked his life going over there. every time one of our brave men or women leave for iraq war afghanistan, they risk their lives. if they can risk their lives for our country, why would send a politician be able to risk their office -- why would not a politician be able to risk their office to make the right decisions? if you have the balls to do -- ges, the guts to do it

every police officer and firefighter that i have met, every single day they get up they do not know if they will see their family again. that is the coverage. to risk your life for the community. the politician cannot risk the office? hello? what are we talking about here? it is difficult to govern. it is difficult to be a senator. you can be out after one term. so what? you have served. many moved on to a another job. that is a sad story. that is we want to teacher at the university. institution is about this great information. kids are studying terrific things and how to craft policy and do all of these things and solve the problem.

in here now have a different opinion than someone else, how do you get those ideas together and come to a solution and serve the people? >> all of the of the end is coming up tonight at 9:35 eastern here on c-span. within the half hour or so we will take you live to fishersville, virginia where mitt romney and his vice presidential running mate paul ryan. it is mitt romney's first campaign even falling last night posing to debate in denver and the first joint appearance since paul ryan was named his running mate. that is coming up at 6:45 eastern. the associated press reports president obama has wrapped up in the event in madison, wisconsin before the largest crowd of his campaign -- 30,000 or so. he is headed back to washington.

he continued on the campaign trail with a rally in sloan lake utah.iin he spoke about the challenges of his campaign and mitt romney. this is 30 minutes. ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please

>> hello, colorado. it is good to be back in denver. could everybody please give lily a great round of applause for that great introduction? we have your great senators in the house, your great terrific members of congress are here, we have the campaign co-chairs, and most importantly we have all of you, even though you had to give them up a little quicker than expected. i love you back. now, the reason i was in denver is to see all of you, and it is always pretty, but we also had our first debate last night. and when i got onto the stage, i met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be mitt romney. but it could not have been mitt romney because the real mitt romney has been running around

the country for the last year promising $5 trillion in tax cuts to pay for the wealthy. the fellow onstage last night said he did not know anything about that. the real mitt romney said we do not need any more teachers in our classrooms. [booing] don't boo -- vote. but the fellow onstage last night, he loves teachers, cannot get enough of them. the mitt romney we all know invested in companies that were called pioneers of the outsourcing jobs to other countries. but he got onstage last night, he said that he does not even know that there are such laws that encourage outsourcing.

he has never heard of them. never heard of them. never heard of tax breaks for companies who ship jobs overseas. he said if it is true, must need a new accountant. we know for sure it was not the real big trouble because he seems to be doing just fine with his current accountant. the man onstage last night does not want to be held accountable for mitt romney's decisions and what he has been saying for the last year. we know we do not want what he has been saying for the last year. governor romney made the answer

on his positions, but if you want to be president, you owe the american people the truth. here is the truth -- governor romney not pay for his $5 trillion tax plan. we cannot afford another round of budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy. we cannot afford to subsidize wall street or big oil or insurance companies. we cannot afford to double-down on the same economic policies that got us into this mess. that is not a plan that creates jobs, grow the economy. that is not change.

that is a relapse. we do not want to go back there. where not going back. we are going forward. i have a different idea about how we create jobs. this country does not succeed when we only see the rich getting richer. we succeed with the middle-class gets richer. we grow our economy not from the top down, but from the middle out. we do not believe that anybody is entitled to success, but we believe in opportunity. we believe in a country where hard work pays off and where responsibility is rewarded and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody plays by the same rules. that is what the country is for. that is why i am running for president of the united states, and that is why i want your vote.

>> four more years! >> what i talked about last not was a new economic patriotism, a patriotism based on the belief that growing our economy begins with a strong, thriving middle- class. that means we export more products and we outsourced and fewer jobs. in the last three years we came together to reinvent a dying auto industry that is back on top of the world.

we have created more than 500,000 new manufacturing jobs, so now you have a choice. we closed tax breaks, and we reward companies that create jobs in the united states. that is what we are looking for. we can help small business double their exports and create 8 million manufacturing jobs. i want to control our energy. after 30 years of inaction, we have raised fuel standards by the middle of the next decade so your cars and trucks will be going twice as far on a gallon of gas. we have doubled the amount of renewable energy that we generate from sources like wind and solar. thousands of americans have jobs building wind turbines and long- lasting batteries. the united states today is less dependent on foreign oil than any time in the last two decades. now you have a choice between a

plan that reverses this progress or one that builds on it. my opponent said he refuses to close a loophole that gives big oil companies $4 billion in tax subsidies every year. we have a better plan that we keep investing in wind, solar, and clean coal, where construction workers are retrofitting homes so they waste less energy, and we can develop a supply of natural gas that creates hundreds of thousands of jobs and we can cut our oil imports in half by 2020. that will be good for our economy, for colorado, and that will be good for america, and that is what we're fighting for. that is why i am running for a second term as president of the united states.

i want to give more the chance to get the skills they need to compete. i talked about how education was the gateway of opportunity, and it was for michelle and for me and so many of you. it is the gateway for a middle- class life. today students are paying less for college because we took on a system that was wasting taxpayer dollars on bankers and lenders. we could cut education, we could decide that in the united states students should have their dream deferred because of an overcrowded classroom. no company should have to look for workers in china because they could not find any of the right skills here. we will recruit 100,000 new

teachers and we will improve early childhood education and create 2 million more slots in community colleges so workers can get trained for the jobs that are out there right now, and we will continue to do everything we need to do to cut the growth of tuition costs because every young person in america should have the opportunity to go to college without being loaded up with hundreds of -- tens of thousands of dollars' worth of debt. i have a plan that will cut the deficit by $4 trillion with a mix of spending cuts and higher taxes on wealthiest americans. i have already worked with republicans to cut back trillion of dollars of spending, and i want to do more. i want to reform the tax code so it is fair, so that incomes over $250,000 will go back to the rate when bill clinton was

president, that created the biggest surplus in history. last night romney ruled out raising a dollar of taxes on anybody, closing out the loophole that is $4 billion in corporate welfare, refused to acknowledge the loophole that gives tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and when he was asked what he would do to cut the deficit, said he would eliminate funding for public television. that was his answer. thank goodness somebody is finally getting tough on big bird. it is about time. we did not know that big bird was driving the federal deficit, but that is what we

heard last night. how about that? elmo, too? look, the fact is governor romney's numbers do not add up. i had to spend time last night trying to pin it down. the only way to pay for $5 trillion in the tax cuts and $2 trillion in the defense spending that the military says it does not need is by asking the middle-class to pay more. i refuse to do that. i refuse to ask middle-class families to give up their deductions for owning a home or raising their kids just to pay for another millionaire's tax

cut, just to pay for more tax cuts that we cannot afford. i will never turn medicare into a voucher. governor romney doubled down on the proposal last night, and he is wrong. no american should have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies. they should retire with the dignity they have earned. we will perform and strengthen medicare for a long haul, but reducing the cost of health care, not by asking seniors to pay thousands of dollars more, and we will keep promise of social security by taking the responsible steps to strengthen it.

we will have a chance to talk about what is going on overseas, because our prosperity at home is linked to what happens abroad. four years ago, i promised to end the war in iraq, and i did. i said we would wind down the war in afghanistan in a responsible way, and we are. while a new tower is rising above the new york skyline, al qaeda is on the run and osama bin laden is dead. we still face serious threats throughout the world. we saw that a few weeks ago, and that is a why we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known, and when troops take off the uniforms, we will serve them as well as they have served us,

because nobody should have to fight for a job when they come home or a roof over their heads if they have fought for our country. they have earned our respect and our honor. that is a commitment i make. it will be interesting to see what mitt romney will say about foreign policy when we meet next, because he said it was tragic to end the war in iraq. he will not tell us how he will end the war in afghanistan. and i will use the money we are no longer spending on war to pay down our debt and put more people back to work, rebuilding our roads and bridges and schools and runways and broadband lines, because after a decade of war, it is time to do some nation-building at home and do and put some folks to work at home.

this is the choice we now face. this is what the election comes down to. over and over we had been told by our opponents that since government cannot do everything, it should do almost nothing, if you cannot afford health insurance, we hope you do not get sick, and that if a company is releasing toxic pollution into the air, that is the price of progress. you cannot go to college -- just borrow money from your parents. as i described last night, that is not who we are, not what this country is about. in america we believe we are in this together. we understand america is not about what can be done for us, it is about what we can do as one nation, and you understand

that, or the reason there is a teacher in pueblo who can buy and home using new tax credits. you have made that happen. you are the reason a woman can get treatment she needs to beat cancer. now that there are affordable plans to cover pre-existing conditions, we can do that. you made that happen. you are the reason thousands of students at colleges have more help paying for college this year. that happened because of you. you are the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went to school here and pledges allegiance to our flag will no longer be deported from the only country she has ever called home. you are the reason an

outstanding soldier will not be kicked out the military because of who he loves. you are the reason why thousands of families have been able to say to their loved ones who served us so greatly, welcome home, welcome home, welcome home. if you turn away now, you buy into the cynicism of how the change we fought for is not possible, then change will not happen. if you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, that lobbyists and special interests and the people who are writing the $10 million checks will end up dominating the airwaves, and that is how things and ordinary folks get left out, all the folks who are trying to make it harder for you to vote, the folks in washington who think they should control that health-care choices that women should be making for themselves.

only you can make change happen. only you have the power to move us forward. from the day we began this campaign, i always said real change takes time, it takes more than one term. you cannot do it if it have a president who writes off half the nation before he even takes office. you know, in 2008 47% of the country did not vote for me. on the night of the election i said all those americans, i may not have won your votes, i have heard your voices, i need your help, and i will be your president, too. that is all i want to say to denver. what i want to say to the great state of colorado, i do not know how many of you will be

with me this time around, but i will plead with you no matter what, because i'm not fighting to create democratic or republican, jobs, i am fighting to create american jobs. i am not fighting to improve schools in red states or blue states, i am fighting to improve schools in the united states. and if we rally around a new sense of economic patriotism, a sense of how we build an economy from the middle out and give ladders of opportunity to everyone, we will strengthen the middle class, we will keep moving forward. i believe politics is not as

divided as it seems sometimes. i believe in you. i ask you to keep on believing in me. i am asking for your vote, and if you are willing to stand with me and work with me, we are going to win denver again, we are going to win colorado again. we will finish what we start. we will remind the world why the united states is the greatest country on earth. god bless you and god bless the united states of america. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ >> president obama from about 10:00 mountain time, the first of his speeches after the debate.

next, we will take you live to virginia in the shenandoah valley, waiting here with the audience assembled waiting to hear from a romney. this will be his first post- debate appearance. he is here with his running mate, paul ryan, and they had some previous speakers warming up the crowd, including the virginia lt. gov on the stage now. that candidates should be out shortly. live coverage here on c-span. >> his lofty promises of hope and change. four years later, the rhetoric has stated. it has been replaced by a record. is character of failed leadership in every respect. it is time for him to go. this president's economic policies have failed our country. no one in america can say they are better off today than they

were four years ago at. 23 million of our fellow americans are suffering because they are out of work and looking for jobs. and we have had an implacable breakup of over 8% for 43 straight months. more americans living and poverty, more americans ought the stamps, more americans to whom the american dream has become an unattainable dream. that is not america. it is time for him to go. [applause] his economic policies and spending policies are threatening the financial foundation of our country. every year since barack obama has been president,, the federal government has spent over a trillion dollars packard more than it has taken in. we have a $16 trillion national debt. we are mortgaging the a future

of our children. the national debt today totals $50,000 for every man, woman, and child in in america. we can do better and we will be better when we elect mitt romney and paul ryan on november 6. president obama call would have us believe that this is somehow the new bubble. joe biden -- joe biden. there is the gift that keeps on giving. they would have us believe that somehow this is the normal. that this is the best america can be. they would have us be our best days as a nation are behind us. that up -- we don't believe that. we believe the 21st century will be another american century. we believe our best days are yet to come. we know that to do that, we have to have new leadership in washington d.c.

and we need mitt romney and we need paul ryan. [applause] hunt i want you guys to go out for these next 33 days and i want you to work like a future of our country depends on it because you know what? it does. it is a defining moment in the life of our country and i am convinced as i have gotten to know this man over the last five years and i cheered his presidential campaign in 2008 and i am doing it again in 2012 because i believe this man, met romney, is right person with the right experience at the right time to get america back is right track. america needs met romney. hip-hop i want you to go out and fight for these principles we believe i want you to stand up to make that 21st century another american century. i want you to share that

message with your friends and neighbors and family members and the people you work with and the people you go to church with and with strangers on the street. it is time for all good men and all good women to come to the aid of their country. we have 33 days to get america back on the right track. so, augusta county, tonight, i want to ask you can, the only question that matters. 33 days away from is election day and i want you to shout at some of the people in stanton and harrison bergeron and waynesboro and stewart's strap here you -- the question is this. are you all ready to what? [applause] car you all ready to lead? are you all ready to win? heckling let's go get this thing done. thank you, everybody.

god bless you. ♪ ♪ >> this is the augusta expo land in the shenandoah valley, site of the first post-debate appearance by khmer romney. he will be joined by his running mate, paul ryan. they should be out shortly. the obama campaign had to rally today. we showed you president a bubble

in denver and he had orally madison, wisconsin. before the associated press reported was the largest campaign crowd of his campaign so far, some 30,000 people in madison, wisconsin. the president is august i ought to washington. both president obama and that romney will be in virginia tomorrow. president will be at george mason and -- at george mason, that we'll have that for you. both are sure to say something about the september jobs reports that will be coming out tomorrow morning and we are likely to hear something about that from both president obama as rocky. we are writing to a year from a romney and paul brian. they are here -- from mitt romney and paul ryan. we address that they will take an interview with sean hennessey for his program after their

release this evening. -- sean hannity for his program after their rally this evening. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ." ♪ ♪

hacke♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

>> it is good to be in fishersville, virginia tonight. ♪

♪

>> thank you. it is good to be here with you tonight. thank you. there is -- there are some marine friends of mine somewhere here tonight. i never had written a song before about one particular brand of not of -- of military. last year, i wrote this. this is my feeble attempt to pay tribute to the marine corps. ♪

he sat in that long line of barber chairs and the sergeant asked him "son, would you like to keep your hair?" he said "yes sir" as he heard those clippers buzz and hum the sergeant said "well hold out your hands, here it comes" semper fi do or die so gung-ho to go and pay the price here's to leathernecks devil dogs and jarheads parris island in july semper fi i sleep in my bed instead of a fox hole

i've never heard my boss tell me to lock and load ain't no bullet holes in the side of my suv 'cause the kid next door just shipped out overseas semper fi do or die so gung-ho to go and pay the price here's to leathernecks devil dogs and jarheads parris island in july semper fi

for the few that wear the dress blues hair cut high and tight who are proud to be the first ones in the fight semper fi semper fi do or die so gung-ho to go and pay the price here's to leathernecks devil dogs and jarheads parris island in july never leave a man behind a marine, a marine for life semper fi

♪ this is for the marine corps. all right. i will do a love song. ♪

well, my heart didn't skip a beat when i saw you standin' there, lookin' like some kinda angel, like you were walkin' on air. and the earth didn't move when you first said my name. i didn't feel a thing, no not me. my heart didn't skip a beat. this ain't no love song, i just felt like gettin' my guitar on, and singin' a tune singin' 'bout you. yeah, feelin' good and tappin' my shoes. and all this stuff i'm makin' up, well, you probably won't be hearin' it on the radio, but then you never know. so baby if you want, you can sing along, but this ain't no love song. i couldn't sleep last night, but you weren't on my mind. and i went for a drive last night, but if you saw me driving by well i must've took a wrong turn. i must've been thinkin' 'bout somethin' else had a melody in my head. yeah, maybe that's why

i couldn't sleep last night. this ain't no love song, i just felt gettin' my guitar on, and singin' a tune singin' 'bout you. yeah, feelin' good and tappin' my shoes. and all this stuff i'm makin' up, well, you probably won't be hearin' it on the radio, but then you never know. so baby if you want, you can sing along, but this ain't no love song. love song, love song. singin' to you baby, singin' to you baby, all night long.

yeah, half this stuff i'm making up well you probably won't be hearing it on the radio. but then you never know. so baby if you want you can sing along, but this ain't no love song. love song, love song. this ain't no love song all right. ♪

this goes out to all of you sophisticated ladies in the house. she grew up in the city in a little subdivision, her daddy wore a tie, momma never fried a chicken, ballet, straight a's, most likely to succeed they bought her a car after graduation sent her down south for some higher education put her on the fast track to a law degree now she's comin home to visit holdin the hand of a wild-eyed boy with a farmer's tan and shes ridin in the middle of his pickup truck blarin charlie daniels yellin, "turn it up!" they raised her up a lady but there's one thing they couldn't avoid ladies love country boys

(you know its true) yeah, you know momma's and daddy's want better for their daughters hope they'll settle down with a doctor or a lawyer in their uptown, ball gown, hand-me-down royalty they never understand why their princess falls for some camouflage britches and a southern boy drawl or why she's ridin in the middle of a pickup truck blarin hank jr. yellin, "turn it up!" they raised her up a lady but there's one thing they couldn't avoid ladies love country boys ♪

(oooh, get country with it) you can train 'em you can try to teach 'em right from wrong but it's still gonna turn 'em on when they go ridin in the middle of a pickup truck blarin lynyrd skynyrd yellin, "turn it up!" you can raise her up a lady but there's one thing you jus can't avoid ladies love country boys they love us country boys ooooooh yeah it's that country thing you know ♪

[crowd singing] that is better than i expected. thank you. come out to the barn. ♪ i cannot tell you what an honor

it is to be out tonight. it is a privileged to be out here with the folks. ♪ i do a lot of silly,-songs. i will be the first one to add -- i do a lot of silly, mindless songs. i will be the first one to admit that. every now and then i think of more somber, serious approach that is required, especially these days, the times that we face. we have been through some tough times. there will be some tough times ahead, i am afraid. some people use tough times as an excuse to wine and protest. some people take tough times and they see an opportunity to do

something noble, to do something extraordinary, to do something inspirational. ♪ there are still some in that in this country. i am here tonight on behalf of one of them. this is the song that i came here tonight to sing. ♪

back in 39 she was 26 the wife of a soldier tryin' to raise four kids on rationed out beans and watered down milk tryin' to keep 'em all warm with a patchwork quilt that great depression ended about 1945 but grandma lived to be 92 see, tough times don't last tough people do tough people pull themselves up by the bootstraps when they hit hard luck and they stay strong and they keep on fightin' like they don't know how to lose tough times don't last tough people do those talkin' heads on cnn say we'll never get out of this

hole we're in price of gas is up and the market's down and there's a bunch of empty houses in every town well, i'd interrupt that program with a little headline of my own this just in from the old red, white and blue tough times don't last tough people do tough people pull themselves up by the bootstraps when they hit hard luck and they stay strong and they keep on fightin'

like they don't know how to lose tough times don't last tough people do i've been out of work since mid july my bank account's about bone dry been lookin' for a job no luck so far but i bought a little time when i sold my car well, i'll go dig a ditch if that's what it takes baby, somehow or another we'll get through

tough times don't last tough times don't last tough people do tough people do ♪ state of, people. it is going to be all right. it is going to be -- stay tough, people. it is going to be all right. it will take a couple of tough men. mitt romney and paul ryan will get the job done. thank you very much. ♪

tough times don't last. ♪ tough times don't last. ♪ >> there is a big crowd in

fishersville, virginia. trace adkins ahead of an appearance by mitt romney and paul ryan. this is the first appearance by romney since the debate in denver last night. obama had two -- one in denver at sloan lake park. the other was in madison, wisconsin. that was a big crowd there, too, the biggest of the obama campaign so far. the nielsen ratings agency says the audience last night for the debate was the biggest since 1992. 62.7 million tuned into the debate. if you did not get to see it, what we have done on our debate hub, we are looking at the candidates getting set for an interview with sean hannity. this will be on the hannity

program on fox later. on the debate hub you can see the speech broken down into portions and clips from last night posing debate. the candidates are backstage. we will go back live to fishersville, virginia once the rally gets under way. we will have to live view here on c-span. [no audio] we will wait to take you back to fishersville, virginia with mitt romney and paul ryan. they are doing an interview. i want to show you some of the reaction from this morning's washington journal and from last night. >> we asked c-span viewers what they thought of the first presidential debate.

>> i thought obama probably could have grilled romney on a lot of comments he made. mitt romney did a great job of bringing forward his arguments. he was a little rude in interim thing president obama and the moderator. >> even as a democrat myself, mitt romney had some really good points. obama could have been a lot more aggressive in his debate. you do not and the first 20 seconds of the first presidential debate wishing your wife a happy anniversary. >> mitt romney did what he was supposed to do. he had been under attack for the last few months. it was natural for him to come out there in the defensive. >> i was -- it was incredible to see mitt romney who has been beefed up and dehumanized to not

only become human for so many people but you see a compassionate, well-composed presidential timber. he is not only well-versed, but he can hold his own anywhere. i do not think that has been seen in the last two with three months by most americans. >> i was disappointed by the debate. while president obama had subsequent -- substantive point, he was meandering. every time romney was pressed on what specifically are you going to do and the numbers, he would say things like," -- "let's just make up a number." i felt terrible for jim lehrer, who did not have control of the debate. that did not improve my view of either candidate.

>> both of the gentleman did not touch on what is killing america, which is immigration. it has grown so much. we get nothing in return. they did touch on jobs going overseas. that is the main key. you have lost americans making more money than to americans. if we do not fix that, america will fall no matter what. >> the body language of the candidates -- romney won that. as far as romney's ideas, he said a lot of stuff about his changes he made to the state. the national stage will be a different idea and something that is a little far-fetched right now. >> to see a drop. they've both held their composure. they both made their points. mr. romney did look a little frustrated a few times. i likened him to a pit bull on a

beach trying to get loose. he did make his points. i agree with him on bayous. the democratic party -- i do not agree with their bad uses some. >> looking at the body language on the guys, it felt like they were full of crap. they keep avoiding the real issues. >> i have a visceral reaction tonight. the whole time romney was talking, i would say how? how? he wanted to say how he would do this stuff. he did not tell us how. it was extremely frustrating. >> obama did not mention anything about china. he skirted a lot of the questions. he was never direct and to the point. he was already -- always tried to attack mitt. mitt seem to be confident. i believe mitt said it every

other time. number one i did this, number 2 we are doing that. we will have a very good debate sessions coming up in the near future. i hope it pulls through. >> i thought both candidates did a good job. i was more impressed with the president, and because of that, i am getting off the fence and going with the president. the moderator could have exercised more control. he let romney cut in and take over more than he should have. i found obama to be more believable if i was ok with what the moderated it. he allowed us to see the true personalities of the candidates. we need to see more of who they really are. >> the debate was not anything special. romney was being a bit ridiculous, constantly interrupting obama. overall, i am not -- it was not

a great debate. >> the moderator was disappointing. he did not control the debate. obama had more time than romney. a couple of times, romney did sort of interrupt. he had to. obama had been on for five minutes. i timed it myself. >> watch and in gays -- engage on c-span at the vice- presidential candidates debate in danville, ky. two more presidential debates on tuesday, october 16 ater 22 from lynn university focusing on foreign policy. we will take you back live next to fishersville, virginia, the site of mitt romney's first campaign stop since the first debate last night. this is the a gusto expoland even center. -- this is the of augusta

events center. the next debate is in kentucky. the vice president joe biden was on the campaign trail tonight in iowa. he talked about the debate saying he did not want to say a thing that is not accurate. he was asked about the present's performance last night. here is what he had to say. >> the president did well. he was presidential. you never know what position governor romney will come with. the centerpiece of their economic policies so far has been their tax cuts. last night, we found out he does not have a $5 trillion tax cut. he outsource that to china or something. i do not know. that is offshore. it is hard to figure out what

governor romney's position is on a number of issues. as time goes on, meaning days, it will become pretty clear that governor romney has either changed in number of positions or did not remember some of his positions. we have two more debates coming up. i feel really good about it. my own debate -- all debates are tough. you get up there. i was watching the debate last night. you can sit there and say i would have done this or that. you hear people saying that. all debates are tough. i am looking forward to what. the thing about congressman ryan is he has been straightforward up until now. all of the significant changes he wants to make, we have

fundamentally different views on a range of issues. i hope it will be a good debate. what i have been to wing mostly is -- doing mostly is a steadying on congressman ryan's positions on the issues. governor romney has embraced at least everything i can see. i do not want to say anything in the debate that is not completely accurate. for example, i have been saying to you all of that governor romney has embraced the ryan budget. he has. he has gone back and said no he agrees with that. i want to make sure that when i say these things i do not have the congressman saying i do not have that position or that is not the governor's position. it is getting the factual predicate for everything -- the key issues on which governor

romney has spoken and congressman ryan. >> the vice president debate is a week from tonight here on c- span. we will take you back live to fishersville, virginia. the crowd is waiting to hear from mitt romney and his vice presidential running mate, paul ryan. a big crowd here. at the augusta expoland. they have been warmed up by a representative as well as the lieutenant governor and a country music star performing for the crowd. they are still waiting for mitt romney and paul ryan. mitt romney will stay in virginia tomorrow. the president has a campaign appearance in virginia tomorrow. the president at 10:45 eastern at george mason university.

mitt romney summer at 11:30 at abingdon, virginia. we will hear from both of them about the unemployment report coming out at 8:30 tomorrow morning. those events will be live on c- span tomorrow. by in fishersville, virginia, here on c-span, waiting to hear from mitt romney and paul ryan.

♪ a big crowd gathered in fishersville, virginia to hear from mitt romney and paul ryan. we are running about an hour and a half behind or so. later, we will show you the president's comments from earlier from denver. he will also find those in our video library. after the mitt romney event, we will take your phone calls and

reaction. also, with this evening, an event with arnold schwarzenegger, who has opened a new thing take on global policy at the university of california. he had a discussion on partisanship in politics. here is what he had to say about the issue of partisanship in washington.

>> you have to have the guts to do it. every police officer that i have met. they do not know they can see their family again. that is correct.

>> what you are talking about here is that people are afraid to cross the party line and go in the direction or hang out together because voters will be upset and they may not get reelected. if your main objective is to get reelected, you are screwed right there. you cannot make a move anymore. when we talk about courage, we talk about senator mccain who was in vietnam. he was going through unbelievable torture. he risked his life going over there. every time one of our brave men or women leave for iraq war afghanistan, they risk their lives. if they can risk their lives for our country, why would send a politician be able to risk their office -- why would not a politician be able to risk their office to make the right decisions?

if you have the balls to do changes, the guts to do it -- every police officer and firefighter that i have met, every single day they get up they do not know if they will see their family again. that is the coverage. to risk your life for the community. the politician cannot risk the office? hello? what are we talking about here? it is difficult to govern. it is difficult to be a senator. you can be out after one term. so what? you have served. many moved on to a another job. that is a sad story. that is we want to teacher at the university. institution is about this great information. kids are studying terrific things and how to craft policy and do all of these things and solve the problem. in here now have a different opinion than someone else, how do you get those ideas together and come to a solution and serve the people? >> we will take you back to immense -- digital, virginia. the virginia crowd is waiting for hours. a man shouted, where argument, while right mix, i get up. i cannot found you. cutters from casey hunt. this agreement romney's first post estivate appearance. we will have to live for you hear here on c-span. we will follow that with some of your reaction. as you are at some of these rallies he may see the c-span 2012 campaign bus. the bus has been five-state for visiting colleges and universities speaking with students about c-span programming. students told us who they were

supporting in 2012 and the issues that were important to them. some of the responses from students at akron in university. >> i support barack obama for presidency. >> my candidate is a jerry johnson, the libertarian candidate from new mexico. it is important to consider him on the economic side of things and his social issues are good to me. >> the most important issue that we face in this election is the massive debt that our country faces. it is only projected to grow and the next five years. my generation will be stuck with it. >> i will ask the candidates what they are doing to ensure job security and create new jobs. i am in college. i want to make sure my education

is paid off. >> back to fishersville, virginia for mitt romney and paul ryan. ♪ >> thank you. how about it for trace adkins, a great american and great patriot? i let out at all of the cars there. it looks like that movie "field of dreams." the dream is to save america and our freedom. virginia is ground zero. are you ready to make a difference in this election? but me tell you why. we, as americans, we brief freer air, we live freer lives, we have more opportunity from the

day we are born than anyone else on the face of the planet. other countries have tried to copy us, but nobody has been able to duplicate the united states of america. it is because of those freedoms we have in the bill of rights in our constitution. the united states of america is the greatest achievement in freedom. we are also the first country founded not on a race, not out of royalty, but on a set of a god-given in eligible rights and freedoms. i look out tonight that you. i know you are about citizenship, patriotism, core american values. i feel a bond of the fabric that

keeps this country free. i know every single one of you here tonight police in the unique benefits of american freedom? we believe our freedoms make a stronger. you believe our freedoms think as better. you believe our way of life is better parity believe our second amendment makes us better. you are not free if you cannot defend yourself. everyone knows that. he will not surredy to make a difference for freedom in this country. we have to do that because we stand on the edge of an obama cliff with our freedom. --sident obama get reelected [booing]

he will have one to three spring court appointments. if that happens, we can kiss our constitutional rights to hold a firearm in the united states goodbye along with a lot of the rest of our freedoms. we cannot let that happen. let me talk about another thing. does anybody trust and obama administration in a second term? to be anywhere near negotiating with the united nations on our freedom? >> no. >> that club of government -- no one has a bill of rights like the united states of america. they're gone plan is turned over your firearms and their protection of government. the government will protect you. does anybody think that will happen to attackno. >> that you in plan is about global agencies monitoring

surveillance, supervision, institutionalized with in the peroxy with in the united states with a permanent funding mechanism a partly paid for by u.s. taxpayers. nowhere do they talk about the process, privacy, individual rights, individual freedoms, a bill of rights. what we are a bout in the united states of america. i guarantee you if your glass priced at 2:00 a.m. from some criminal, those baby blue helmets from the u.n. will not be there to protect you and neither is president obama or eric holder. what will protect you is our freedom under the second amendment of the constitution. there is not a government or an authority on the planet that can match that if you are in that situation. let me talk about one other thing. this whole fast and furious

situation. [booing] under the obama administration, they sent thousands of guns to the most evil people on the planet -- the mexican drug cartels. they had a massive campaign to manipulate public a patient budget opinion in this country with this 90% nonsense. the president, vice president, attorney general, they sound like a former shop quartet coming critics singing. they were ruining the lives of us american citizens that own firearm shops. they told them to make the sales. the media is reporting their unscrupulous dealers. some of them tried to prosecute. when some good federal agents and down the line blew the whistle on the whole mess, they tried a massive cover-up scheme.

the best way to get eric holder his walking papers is to give president obama his walking papers on election day. we are on the edge of an obama cliff. before president obama bought a gun owners mattered, he was for a hand on -- handgun ban, semiautomatic ban. he wants to raise the excise tax that he would pay on firearms and ammunition by 500%. that is $350 federal tax on a $500 rifle. he was for eliminated all right to carry permits in all 41 states. he was one of only nine illinois legislators to vote to jail a homeowner that in the middle of the night use a firearm against a criminal with a rap sheet as

long as your arm. he voted to prosecute the criminal. you talk about lack of common sense. i do not know how you have any better example than that. he voted on a vote that if he succeeded would put every american firearms company out of business with hundreds of thousands of jobs and less -- left our personal and military security depended on the chinese, russians, chinese, and italians. talking about a lousy plan for america. that is it. we are at the obama clip. we have only seen the tip of the icebergs out of what is in store if president obama is reelected. we will see an anti-second amendment, anti-see them rampage -- anti-venom rampage. this could break the back of the second amendment in this country.

it is the most dangerous election in our lifetime. if the president obama get reelected, our individual rights to own a firearm will be gone. we will be quote -- we will go to our great kissing that freedom to buy. virginia is ground zero. are you ready to saddle up and ride, hanging lanterns, and be a paul revere for freedom in this state? because this is an all-in an election, all of our freedoms, rights, where life, second amendment is on the line. it all means you. no one can sit this election out we are virginians. we are patriots. we are americans. you tell me right now -- are you by got all in for romney- ryan on election debs --

election day as our next president and vice president of the united states? thank you very much spirit always defend freedom every single day. >> thank you, wayne. what we do between now and november 6 we determine the type of country our kids and grandkids grew up in. will it be a country of more government, more spending, more debt, more government intrusion into our personal lives and less freedom? it is important because that is barack obama's vision for the future of our country. it is a country we hardly recognize, let alone one to live in. with the supreme court bounce by one vote and other long-term issues pending. this election is not about the next four years. this election is about the next 40 years. there are 100 reasons to deny

barack obama four more years in office. none are more important than defending the freedoms that make this country great. these are the freedoms that we have to fight for, because these are the freedoms that are at stake in this election. fight. do everything you can between now and election day. fight for these kids and grandkids that are here today. fight for our soldiers, who put it all on the line, defending our freedom overseas so they can come home to an america as free as when they left her. let us send a message to the national news media. their coverage of this race is a national disgrace.

we have a message for cnn, nbc, abc, cbs -- he will not decide the outcome of this election. we, the people, will decide the outcome of this election. we live in a country that is getting harder to recognize every day. led by a president who mocks our values, belittles our faith, and is threatened by our freedoms. you know it and i know it. barack obama is another washington, d.c. politician who will say whatever it takes to get elected. do not believe him. do not believe the slick campaign ads. do not believe his cheerleader friends in the national news media. do not let your friends believe it, either. barack obama has not changed washington because he cannot

change washington because barack obama is what is wrong with washington. thankfully, we have a choice. the choice cannot be more clear. on behalf of the 4 million men and women of the national rifle association and tens of millions of nra supporters, it is my honor to announce the nra oppose the endorsement of mitt romney and paul ryan for president and vice-president of the united states. i have the great honor of introducing a great american patriot, a good friend, in the next vice president of the united states of america, paul ryan.

♪ >> hello, everybody. man. wow. look at you. look at this. awesome. man. thank you, fishersville, thank you virginia for making mitt romney the next president of the united states of america. wow.

chris cox and i have been friends a long time. i have been subscribing to "american rifleman," amd " american hunter" since i was about 12. i have my own here. it has a blaze orange and camouflage cover because after we elect mitt romney presence, i can take my daughter deer hunting. hall i want to thank you virginia. i want to think the lieutenant governor. i want to thank my friend. thank you for coming. thank you for making virginia a better place. france, i love you, too. every now and then, we see a glimpse into the future.

last night, we saw a clear picture. we saw a clear choice. last night, america got to see the man i know, a leader, a decisive man. a man with a plan to get people back to work and to protect our freedom. every now and then, president obama in a moment of candor reveals his thoughts. remember four years ago when he was talking to people in san francisco, he said people in the midwest like to cling to their guns in their religion. this cafe deer hunter is guilty as charged and proud of it.

another issue that came up -- taxes. last night, president obama made it clear he is going to raise taxes. today, vice president joe biden made it even more clear. in i what he said, he asked himself a question and he asked if he and president obama wants a trillion dollar tax hike. his response to himself was yes, we do. that is a direct quote. virginia, no, we do not mitt romney will talk about this in a minute. what we do not needs is a